THEA'ljiE LIST
i 0 Theatre is Ilsted by city llretthen by venue, runnlng ln alphabetical order,
. except tor touring shows which are
listed by the name at the show. Please
send details not later than 10 days
belore publicatlon date.
GLAS OW
0 ClTlZENS (iot‘hals Street. 4290022
/8177. Box Office. Mon—Sat
T 10am-8pm. Bar. [1)] Nodramathisissue.
0 CUMBERNAULO THEATRE Cumbernauld. 023 67 32887. Box
7 Office Mon—Fri 10am—6pm. Sat
7 10am—3pm. 6—8pm perf. evgs.
Bar/cafe.
I Scabaret Fri 30and Sat 31 May. 8pm j £2 (£1 .50). A cabaret of music and
: comedy in a ‘pub‘ setting.
Theatre Open Day Sat 7 June. The theatre will be open all day and there are various events throughout the
; day for visitors. At 1pm there will he ; Live Jazz in the bar. followed by Liv e
Folk at 3.30pm. From 2.30pm
E onwards there will be free conducted
; Chris Hannah munches on an apple and takes the press release lor his latest
3 play away lrom me. He pronounces it
good. A good piece ol writing that is;
’ the apple sits around a bit, hall eaten
- but not lorgotten, vigorously defended
I againstthe Traverse bar stall who want to see it in a bin.
lollowing the story which Hannan
f believes presented problems of
. interpretation in his last play “Elizabeth , Gordon Quinn’. Astory ola I working-class woman whose
‘ idiosyncratic pride prevented her from ioiningthe Glasgow tenement rent
tours of the theatre backstage and front. At 1.30pm (50p) there will be a preview of ('umhernauld Theatre (‘ompany‘s next children's production (5— I 2 year-olds).
.S'eanachaidlt by Nick Fcarne.
i I I
Seanachaidh is (iaelic for storyteller.
and the play. which involves plenty ofaudience participation. is based on Scottish folklore. and centres round a wedding day. In the evening. meanwhile. at 7.45pm (£1 ). you can see a Revue presented by (Tumbernauld Theatre’s Adult Drama Group.
0 THE DRAMA CENTRE 126 Ingram Street. 041 5525827.
Mister Fun Fri 30 May. 8pm. Metro Theatre Co. in a play by Steve (iooch. which. set in a fairground. looks at life in the so-callcd age of leisure. when a young couple. victims of the economy. try to set up
home without work or money.
0 KING'S Bath Street. Box Office Mon—Sat noon—6pm. Four bars. [1)] Phone bookings (Ticket ('entre).
THEATRE
Candleriggs. Mon—Sat l0.30am—6.30pm. 552 5961.
Pump Boys and Dinettes Until Sat 31 May. Fri 7.30pm. Sat 5 and 8pm. £3.50—£b. Tue—Fri ()APs. students. U B40s half price. The highly successful Broadway musical which looks at American life through the eyes of four guys who work on a gas station and two gals who work at the cafe opposite. the whole thing wrapped up with country music. Mm. mm.
Don‘t Misunderstand Me Mon 2—Sat 7
' .Iune. Mon—Fri 7.30pm. Sat 5 and
8pm. £4.50. £4. £3.50: Mon two for price ofone: Tue—Fri ()AP. U840 and students half price. A comedy
3 starring Patrick (‘argill. Margaret
Ashcroft and William Lucas.
' Benefactors Mon 9—Sat l4June.
Mon-Fri 7.30pm. Sat 5 and 8pm. £4.50. £4. £3.50. Mon two for price ofone;'1‘ue—Fri()APs. UB40s. students halfpriee. Stephanie Turner and Gareth Thomas in Michael Frayn's highly acclaimed architectural comedy. Domestic comedy based on variously objectionable professional people and the rights and wrongs of highrise building - a far from simplistic. very funny analysis of the issues.
0 MITCHELL (iranville Street. 221
3198. Boxoffice Mon—Sat. l2
noon-hpm. Bar. (are. [1)] Tickets also available from Ticket Centre.
The last thing Hannan wants the audiences of ‘The Orphans‘ Comedy’ to worry about it is the Theme. ‘1 want them to concentrate on the story, it they think itcarries a theme then line’.
It was looking lorthemes and not
strikes, it lead some some to believe that Hannan had written a Thatcherite
tract. The ‘non-theatre’ going part ol
the audience who lollowed the story
j had no such problems with the play
Hannan maintains.They recognised ‘ the ‘tragic llaw, something very
. beautiluI' that made Quinn behave as '. she did.
Hannan‘stirst work lortheatre was a piece ol agit-prop lor 7.84 Scotland, ‘Screw the Bobbin‘. It is not the sort ol work that he would tackle today ‘probably because I‘m not convinced there‘s an ellective way of presenting agit-prop just now. I don’t thinkthe atmosphere is right. in the early Seventies it was new and coincided with a rise in militancy. It was a high pointlortrade unions. Now, as a playwright, you have to understand why people don‘t support the unions so strongly. With agit-prop there can be a
I
List 30 May — 12 June
CONSUMING INTERESTS
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lack of imagination that can be very dangerous. I understand whatJohn McGrath means about people’s right to
. a4"? pl}? 25:, {r
. seetheatrethatconlirmstheirbeliels
I
but I don’t think you can persuade
; peoplelike that.’
With ‘Elizabeth Gordon Quinn' Hannah was writing ‘tragedy’ in a Shakespearian sense and now with ‘The Orphans' Comedy’ he is changing the genre but not the approach. With an academic background in drama at 0xlord behind him, it shouldn‘t perhaps be surprising that Hannan consciously lollows in a tradition at generic writing that goes back to Shakespeare and yet somehow from a young socialistwriter it is.
‘The Orphans‘ Comedy’ tells the story ol three couples and a lamin planning clinic in a country ‘not unlike our own‘. A peculiar economic logic persists in this land which has the government
banning the sale of contraceptives ‘because in a country like ours there can not be too many healthy children. Children are consumers ol the luture'. Hannah maintains that this is just the starting point lor the comedy and it isn’t, despite the relerences to lutures markets in condoms, designed to shock. ‘It isn’t black comedy. Black comedy isn’t comedy at all. Its values are that everything is absurd, let‘s all have a laugh because there are no values. I’ve picked up on traditional comedy because there are values.
‘In “The Orphans' Comedy" people are restored to themselves-there‘s not a happy ever alter ending to the world but the characters have grown. That’s where the hope comes in. If people are going to be shocked it’s not going to be by the condoms, it‘s going to be because of the happy ending. That’s the shock value, the fact there is hope‘.
Hannah makes a grab lor the apple. ‘Don't you want to talk about the money?’ ‘The Orphan‘s Comedy’ has
3 taken nine months to write lorwhich
Hannan receives from the Scottish Arts Council £2050 which includes all royalties. Hannan is currently campaigning lor properlinancial remuneration lor the work writers do in the subsidised theatre, pointing out that a trainee director in a theatre like the Traverse or the Tron would receive a salary at 26000. ‘The Arts Council's job is to subsidise theatre and new writers. There is a Iimitto how long you can go on earning less than £3000 a year. It’s not a subsidy at all. it’s less than I would get from the DHSS.‘ Tragedy, Comedy orjust Farce I wonder? (Nigel Billen)
Candleriggs. 552 5961. Mon—Sat 10.30am—(x30pm.
Oliver! Until Sat 31 May. 7.30pm. £2.50 (£1 .50). Mitchell Theatre for Youth in a production of the popular musical version of Dickens' Oliver Twist where young ()liver makes the acquaintance ofsuch Iovelies as Bill Sykes. Fagin and the Artful Dodger in London‘s Victorian crime underworld - Victorian values?
A Glasgow Flourish Mon 9—Sat 14 June 7.30pm. £3. Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.
' - THEATRE ROYAL 1 lope Street. 331
1234332 9000 (credit cards). Box office Mon—Sat 10am—6pm (7.30pm on perfevgs) Bar. Buffet.
The Secret Diary ol Adrian Mole Aged 133/4 Until Sat 31 7.30pm. Sat mat 2.30pm. .£3—£7.50 (if you hook for this and following play you can save 10“} ). The acclaimed stage version of Sue 'I‘ownsend's best-selling book — a funny. but also sad 13‘, 4 years-cye-view of the problems of spots. teenage love. the pet dog and marriage breakdown.
0n Approval Mon 2—Sat 7 June. 7.30pm. Sat also 2.30pm. Frederick Lonsdale‘s 1920s” farce in a lavish production with Polly James. Tessa Wyatt. Christopher Blake and William Franklin.
Turn ol the Screw Tue 10. 7. 15pm. Scottish ()pera See (‘lassical Music.
3 Tosca Thurs I2. 7. 15pm. Scottish
()pera. See (‘lassical Music. 0 THIRD EYE CENTRE 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 7521. Box Office Tue—Sat
; 10am—5.30pm. Sun 2—5pm. (Tickets 3 from bookshop on perfevgs). [D]
IEI
The Peacemaker Sat 7 June. 1 lam. £1.50. £1 for kids. TAU Theatre Company in a public performance of the show they are touring round primary schools. For 5—9year-o1ds. David llolman's play is an allegorical tale of how a wall divides the land of the Reds from the land of the Blues Directed by Maggie Kinloch.
Skindeep'l‘hurs l2—Sat 14.7.30pm. £2.50(£2). Alienarts. a local cosmopolitan group. present a play
about three teenagers. two Scots and
one Asian. learning to cope with social tensions around them.
0 TRON (i3 Trongate. 552 42678. Box '
()ffice Tue—Sat. Noon—10pm. Bar The Puddok an‘ the Princess Fri 31 May—Sun 1 June. 8pm. £3 members. £4 non-members. Theatre Alba‘s highly successful production of the play by David I’urves. in which a humungous puddock. who speaks old Scots. secures the affections ofa princess by manners devious
The Kiss ol the Spiderwoman Tue l0—Sun 22 .lune. 8pm. £3 members. £4 non-members. ()1dham(‘oliseum Theatre (‘ompany in a compelling. moving production of Mauel Puig's story ofthe relationship that develops between two prisoners in gaol under an oppressive totalitarian ! regime: Molina. an effeminate homosexual. and Valentin. a f revolutionary activist. Don‘t miss it.
EDINBURGH '
OAOAM HOUSE (‘hamhcrs Street. I
225 5744. Three Sisters Tue 27—Sat 31 May. 7.30pm. £2 from Usher 1 Iall Box